@Donella Turen

Cards of Woven Sorrow is the one on hiatus for me, so I don't think so. But I play a lot of Godbound, so there is a good chance we've played together if that's your jam.

@Tidelan:  Fair enough. I love learning new systems of magic, so that's my thing. I don't watch television much (though I often have Twitch on in the background), and I see maybe two movies a year. My career path is emotionally heavy work, I'm in clinical mental health and just added a Master's Degree to my name last month, so escaping into fantasy worlds to relax and pretend to be a Warlock for a while is my self care.

When I worked a job that had long and slow evenings I ran a Vampire the Masquerade game here on rpol that hit 20k posts in 4 years. That WOULD be impressive if this beast of a game wasn't already at 12k.

This game is crazy.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:28, Thu 01 July 2021.

The biggest game I know of on this website has 70K+ posts. That's because they've passed 100K posts many, many times, and had to delete old posts so that the servers weren't overloaded or smth (i dont remember the reason, or if it was 100K or 200K or whatever)

It's been running since as early as 2003 (maybe longer idk). It's a behemoth, but the thing is it barely has any activity any more. I've only been a part of it for a couple years, too.

Not that one.
I’m in ‘Arcems Finest’ and ‘Shattered Realities’.   They are my only two.
I enjoy that system.

Shattered Realities:   I play a lot of music there.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:48, Thu 01 July 2021.

The biggest I know is the ‘housejohnson’ Werewolf Apocolypse game.
It’s at 157000+ and still very active.

And I throw a pretty mean fireball, if I do say so myself.
Hope to do so here one day, also.

In reply to Donella Turen (msg # 55):

Jesus.

The DM in that game has posted more 4k additional times than the sum of all 14 players and myself in my game over 4 years.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:57, Thu 01 July 2021.

I joined that only recently. Enjoying it so far!

In reply to Carmen Diaz (msg # 58):

Glad to hear it.   I’ve been there a while.

I have trimmed my gaming here as I have quite an addictive personality and sometimes it just gets too damn much!

One of the problems with rpol is that you play in a handful of games, all is doing well. Then one slows right down, another stops completely, and so on. So, you find a couple more games that look cool and join them. Then a couple more games go quiet, so you join some more. Then... loads of old games that were quiet or you thought were dead suddenly get very active and you find you're in 15-20 games and the world is going crazy!!!

That's the issue I had, and it got worse when i tried to run a game. I loved running it, but I spent all my time either running it or thinking about it, to the detriment of real life. So that is why I stopped. I took a hiatus from rpol for several years, only returning last year, and promised myself I would keep it under control. Just about doing that at present... (oooh look, a shiny new game!).

I've taken 2 breaks in all of my years here. Sometimes you just have to. I very rarely have games get resurrected and not turn around and die again within a month or two, so I've never really ran into that particular problem. Or if I did, it didn't stay a problem for long.

Running games can certainly get out of hand, though. Especially if you're doing maps for all of them. I try not to run more than 2-3 pbp games at a given time now.

Yeah. The maps are the killer

Just got my second dosage of the vaccine! Had a bit of a reaction (fever and nausea) last night and this morning, but it's cleared up pretty quickly. If it flares up again, I'll obviously be AFK for a bit. Just telling you all in case I end up bedridden or smth.

Worth it tho, since this means in two weeks I can finally go to the beach for the first time since this stupid ass pandemic. Excitement noises.

Enjoy the beach!

Enjoy the beach! Hopefully no more bad symptoms!

Poll time: Is it wrong to fall in love with your TTRPG character?

I would be best buddies with Tidelan if he actually existed (well he does inside my head, so take that objective reality)

I've always just related more with cats genasi than with humans
This message was last edited by the player at 00:56, Sun 18 July 2021.

It's fine :)

Over the years I have had a couple of characters that I played for a long period of time and really got into that I wish I could play again.

In reply to Tidelan Wavyrus (msg # 66):

I’ve had characters in the past that I’ve been genuinely gutted when they died, like really sad. Even though they aren’t real I kinda made them real in my head, I put energy and imagination into creating them. I suppose it’s similar to making something, like a painting or clay pot or suchlike, and then seeing it getting smashed up and ruined. Maybe you can make something similar, but you know it’s not the same…

Definitely, it's really something to be able to take a concept you feel strongly about and play it out in such a way that you can both experience things you could not have done so if it were all in just your own mind, but also express the personality exactly as you know it should be done.

That was a bit of a weird sentece, basically DND (and im sure other ttrpgs!) is an unique form of storytelling that combines the legitimate connection and understanding of an author writing a three-dimensional character, and the excitement and discovery of playing a huge open-ended game like say Skyrim for the first time!

I'm a druggy for this game no clap

In reply to Tidelan Wavyrus (msg # 69):

What’s great about a pen&paper RPG compared to a video game is that the only limits are your (and your fellow players)  imagination. Want to go that way? Go for it! Want to try and befriend the dragon rather than kill it? Sure, let’s give it a try! Don’t like that rule? Let’s change it! There are literally no limits.

I once heard a story of a guy who wanted to introduce his kids to RPGs, so he set up a little adventure where his kids, playing a knight and a wizard, entered a haunted house. When they met the ghost he prepared for his son to attack with his sword and his daughter to prepare a magic spell… but they didn’t. Instead they said “hello mr ghost, why are you so sad?” So, on the fly, he had to change his entire plot line and made up a story about why the ghost was sad. The kids then set out on a new mission to find whatever the ghost had lost and return it to him so he would be happy. A cute story, but demonstrates that players don’t always follow linear paths and a good GM will be willing and able to just go with it to produce a great narrative!

I've played many characters over my 30+ years of gaming.  The best ones are an exploration of a part of yourself, even as they are their own "person".  What made them "real" was the investment I put in to developing and experiencing them.  Which is where the concept of playing what your character would do becomes a great pleasure.  It can lead to in-character conflict, but that is fine as long as it stays in-character and does not become an out of character issue.  It also leads to incredible RP moments.  Like others have said, the possibilities are limitless.  That is one of the great joys of TTRPGs, here or elsewhere.

It doesn't seem strange to have an emotional investment in a TTRPG character. In fact, it seems common enough in lots of other avenues, like books and movies (I find myself doing the same thing with some characters in longer book series). I think the emotional investment is an indicator that games like D&D are a form of art, and it seems pretty reasonable when viewed through that lense.

Posting this in general OOC because fierce hearts is in group 0:

New post from me; its a little confusing, will explain below; we just finished our quest and am happy to do something else haha

Also, for those in my group, don't feel you have to respond. I'd love it if you did because I value character interaction, but I don't want to hold any players up if their super eager to get their cash and skedaddle like the munchkins they are (LMAO)

Anyway, probably absurdly long breakdown coming, feel absolutely free to skip, since it has nothing to do with your characters at the moment (GMs should probably read because I will assuage some possible problems they may have with it):

Okay so, what just happened? Well, it's easy enough to follow but recap: Tidelan informed Galenna that he was done with the job. Yeah, that's all. Could've been a lot shorter, right?

But a few things about this are weird. First of all, why would the employee tell the employer the job is done. That's not their decision, right? Well legally, you're probably right. We did sign a contract with us all and Smith (IIRC) that stated the terms to end upon return to town (can probably refer to either fierce hearts or smiths gambit, judging from an ooc post by narrator about us getting our exp)... This is fine, since despite her size, Galenna is a grown woman who doesn't need babysitters. Well, not in civilized town at least.

But that doesn't matter, because Tidelan wasn't referring to the legal contract he signed (that stuff doesn't phase him one bit, because it's just paper), but the "Sylvan Oath" he made to Galenna personally.

Frankly, I regret taking the oath. Not because anything bad at all came from it, but because it was probably not an appropriate time to do that. From now on, Tidelan will only take Sylvan Oath when it aligns with his hearts desires, such as to protect his friends (and not very rich cartographers) because of the nature of the promise.

Then again, I wouldn't have been able to introduce the idea without it, so I can forgive myself the eagerness and consider it a satisfying and finished thread.

So, this Sylvan Oath was pretty much identical to the contract, but it didn't actually reference the contract at all. It referenced the same events and whatever, but was completely independent of the meaningless vellum rectangle.

I think I explained this before, but my idea for Sylvan Oath was quite literally an unbreakable promise. This confers no mechanical benefits, and actually could be a mechanical disadvantage. This does not protect from mind control, because 'unbreakable promise' doesn't mean 'warp reality to fulfill your goal' but 'you cannot willingly hold the intent to work against the oath'. Thus, mind control is not protected. That would be a really cool custom feat for Tidelan, though. Kinda been digging the idea for a while.

Also; let me explain that this is a VERY VERY SERIOUS thing. Like, I don't recommend other players taking it unless they are fully committed to the lore. Because, say Tidelan had to choose between his loved ones and Galenna, who do you think he would choose? Galenna. What?? Yeah, because he cannot break his oath. Failing it would be a different matter.

It's possible to release someone from an oath, and it doesn't require anything except willing intent (so you cant charm someone to let you go, and you cant hijack their body and make them speak meaningless words)

Actually; the original concept for Sylvan Oath before I adapted it for a 4th level DND character was much much more significant. Basically, it prevented from all material and even mental effects, because it completely transcended both and was bound to 'the soul' itself.

Unrelated lore from another project to clarify this meaning (this whole post is a chain of tangents lmao). Spoilering this one, because it's truly got little to do with the game:

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Souls in the setting this idea came from are 'semi-timeless' meaning they exist beyond the concept of mortal lifespans. To avoid going in depth, basically you are born live and die, and then either go to some afterlife forever or for a period, become a wandering ghost which is kinda like an afterlife, or get reincarnated. I have a huge amount more lore for souls, but this is all you need to know really.

Though souls can be changed by many things, like damage to your soul through really OP unbalanced abilities attacks or whatever, a soul isn't really changed by experiences unrelated to souls.

This is very harsh in practice (see your loved ones die and go insane and destroy the world? no change to your soul) but was the most definitively clear way to differentiate them from the mind aspect.

So basically, a Sylvan Oath binds your soul (its a lot more complicated than that, having to do with a whole system called 'Honor' which im actually slowly introducing to this game, but this is a tangent and not an exploration of my pet project) to a specific task.

Basically, anything below the level of 'soul' (which mind and body are) wont affect a sylvan oath. The main significance here, is you can't be tricked to entering or exiting a sylvan oath, as either party. Why? Because a Sylvan Oath doesn't care what you 'think' or believe you know. It cares about the truth of the matter, as would be viewed by your soul after death. That's one thing I can't translate properly into DND, though.

---

Obviously, I had and have no right to use lore to introduce extra powers to Tidelan, no matter how inconsequential (because nobody is going to use cheat abilities like Mind Control on low level players. Well, except for low level charm spells so nvm i guess) and thus the ability is in the form it is now.

Actually, calling it an ability is wrong. Because I don't have the right to make homebrew mechanics. What I do have the right to do (or rather, the privilege from Word of God) is to introduce world lore (presumably as long as it is not contradictory to existing lore) and this is where this fits, because it's a tool purely for roleplay.

Hopefully that's justifiable, 'cause now is the part I myself am even a little iffy on (but ultimately decided was tolerable)

In the post, Tidelan speaks a bit more verbosely then normal. Main reason for this was obviously to sound cool. Secondly, since this has so much to do with intent, I was thinking maybe in this very specific instance, words could be translated directly from his intent.

Though, I absolutely did not confirm that to have happened. Rather, I am totally fine with the (head) canon being that he simply picked up a few words. After all, his grammar still wasn't perfect and his word choice mediocre.

I've actually long felt a bit of guilt for giving Tidelan "Farradi" as a language, because his background doesn't actually afford him three languages (common because everyone gets it, druidic from 1st level druid , and primordial because genasi IIRC).

It would make no sense for him to be unable to speak Farradi though, 'cause the character came from that land. So, I've played for most the game with the compromise that he's not proficient in either language (well, in the beginning of the game before I realized any of this you can see that I write like how I speak in real life. Really immersion breaking for me, but I'm too lazy to go back and edit the old posts. No, that's too harsh to myself; im mostly not doing it because I don't want to disrupt anyone else's writing by some weird domino effect. but yeah, i hope we can all consider that noncanon or at least not mention it cause it was a literal plot hole on my part). Yes you heard right, Tidelan doesn't speak ANY languages well (hahah). And even though I play Tidelan on the dumber side (well not really, just linguistically challenged), he's actually got a totally fine 10 intelligence.

Okay so the elephant in the room I was bringing up a few paragraphs ago; The 'magical' effects. You can see in the post that four things were definitively described. The first was  a pressure in the air, and the other three were flashes of color on tidelans body.

Now, I specifically included the term 'harmless' for these phenomena. This was very intentional, because it's an actual term used in many spell descriptions. I thought this would help ease any juxtaposition caused by what could be seen as too much player agency in describing 'outcomes' (the right and responsibility of the DM, in almost every campaign and by 5e core rules iirc)

Why did I do it, then? Well, this is actually the second time I've done this. IIRC, the first time I had no feedback from anybody in any way. Players nor GMs. That is a perfect sign because it means not only was it not a problem for anyone, but it actually blended in well enough to go unnoticed. I don't mean that in the way that I stealthed in some cheating, but in the way that it didn't stand out and thus was totally acceptable for the setting and system.

Also, it is probably worth mentioning that I feel like Tidelan may have treated Galenna a little harshly at the end. I clarified his attitude the best I could, but if you were in the mindset and attitude of a modern person it would still seem 'disrespectful'

DND characters however, can have vastly different worldviews. Some games even allow sexism and racism to be openly discussed, or even a major theme (not my cuppa tea (especially for online games where I find it actively difficult to not give off the wrong impression) and not the subject of this post. Though, a Word of God on in-game themes like that is probably a good idea to get at some point (even with a G rating, it's worth noting that heavy themes don't immediately change a rating, IIRC rpol rules correctly. It's more about how explicitly those themes are explored?). IMO, if anyone would find that uncomfortable, nobody should do it. That's generally how it goes at meatspace (i don't remember who it was, but one of you thanks for this term i love it so much) tabletop, and it's reasonable that it could be carried over to PbP.), so it would be totally within the realm of plausibility for a person of any culture, background and personal philosophy to be even more extreme and consider anyone weaker than them (yes even normal citizens) as 'not worth their time'.

So, to be as explicitly clear as possible, Tidelan's current attitude towards Galenna is his true attitude towards her, now that his oath (which he values highly) has been completed successfully. That attitude is, frankly, indifference. On the trip, he didn't particularly make friends with her (his bonds grew stronger with the other teammates, at least on his side) but not with Galenna in particular.

Sure, they spent time together. That does not necessarily create any attachment. Not unless you are a newborn baby and it's mother (and even then, that's really only a thing in mammal species lol). He's not actively disrespecting her from now on, but he would treat her like an acquaintance. Basically, like someone he meets around town, like Jessop (it's a bit different for Smith, since Tidelan shows him automatic respect as a lord of the land who actually treats his people well, which is a big part of tidelans backstory and why he will be really pissed when he finds out a farradi nobleman is/was in town)

Keep in mind; Tidelan doesn't only value strength. But, nothing about Galenna are qualities he would consider as valuable. That doesn't mean he doesn't think she should be alive, because Tidelan is not advocating for genocide of 'low worth individuals', because that's not his personality. From the few times she's spoken IC, she seems pretty kind, which is a value for Tidelan, but it wasn't to any real extent that affected him, which I think is fair.

So yeah, Tidelan basically doesn't have any particular consideration for Galenna (and he never has, because Sylvan Oath didn't change his mind, just limited his actions. If Galenna turned out to be a mass murderer and assassinated his party, he still couldn't harm her even though his intent would change, because the sylvan oath has already been made)

Basically, a Sylvan Oath is like freezing your Intent in time, and stretching it to the future (not to imply the future is predetermined, which I hope it isn't because I never ever ever play or design worlds like that, nor with multiverses, because it removes all stakes from every thing in the story). Still love time travel though, but only when it addresses the problem of 'absolute destiny'.

That's also my problem with precognition, which only to my knowledge shows up in a single 9th level spell. If you can see the future, that means it has already been determined?

This is a whole thing for me; but this post is the Great Wall of China so lemme just say that an easy fix for allowing 'precognition' (or any type of prophecy) in a setting with an 'unwritten future' (hopefully this world, but then again if it's never explicitly stated one way or another, we can all be happy with our own head canons) is to explain the function behind it as 'prediction'.

You might say 'that is stupid, how can you predict the future 100% of the time' and the answer is horribly devastating and can cause existential despair/dread/horror....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laplace%27s_demon

The GMs need to start locking the Absence thread every time they go away so you people don't clutter it up with non-absence-related yammerings every time, lol.

It's NOT an OOC thread.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:41, Thu 22 July 2021.

In reply to Izayah Hamadrell (msg # 74):

We really just need an OOC thread ;)